Category Archives: Updates

As we begin the seventh month of The Comics Observer, it has become something I didn’t expect. And I love it.

When the site was first conceived, it was to expand on my own writing about comics that I had been doing at my website. But as time went by, I quickly became more interested in reading what others were thinking about comics. One invitation lead to another and before I knew it, I was spending more time curating and editing, and less time writing. So why fight the fates?

I have collected a variety of voices that are offering their own observations, perspectives and opinions on the varied world of comic books. And more are in the pipeline. The site has been tweaked accordingly to reflect our new angle.

To help these great thinkers and writers get more attention, I’m shifting schedules around a little bit so that their columns hit the internet on Mondays. My weekly recommendation column will still go up on Wednesdays. Check out the full schedule here.

So this is probably the last Friday post you’ll see for now. Hopefully having things earlier in the week will help these great columns get circulated more. If you like what you read, please comment and/or share it with your friends via email or on Facebook or Twitter.

Thank you to my excellent team of columnists, Scott, Wayne, Miguel, and Anastasia! Thank you to Dane and Cindy for their guest columns! And we’ve got more in the pipeline!

Come back on Monday for Scott’s new installment, titled “Ten More-Or-Less Current, More-Or-Less Mainstream Funnybooks That I Actually More-Or-Less Enjoy — And Why!” As always, Scott is sure to not hold back as our resident Cranky Comic Book Cartoonist. And later in September, Miguel promises to reveal the greatest comic of all time… and it won’t be what you expect!

If you got here from my comics coverage at CoreyBlake.com or from DigComics.com, thank you for your continued interest. You’ll find that all of my comics-related articles from CoreyBlake.com have magically teleported over here, along with some even older articles from here and there.

If this is your first time, thank you for taking the time to stop by! You’ll see some new articles from the last month and tons more to come!

So what can you expect? The world doesn’t need yet another comics news site, so while I will be providing my own commentary and unique coverage of current events in comics, the site will look to provide a gateway to people just getting into this massive form of entertainment and also give occasional recommended reads. As visitors get more comfortable, they can dig deeper by looking at spotlights on unique experiments in comics and fun facts of the past. And as a special bonus for local readers here in Los Angeles, I’ll feature events like signings and conventions in and around the LA comics scene. To learn more, see the About page.

It’s very likely you’re here for only a few of these things and that’s OK! Just use the handy navigation menu at the top to see the articles you’re interested in.

We’ll have guest-bloggers, like this Friday’s coverage of an LA play that merges theater and graphic novels. We’ll take a look at a publisher’s digital exclusive comic and see if it succeeds as a promotional tool. What else? If there’s anything you’d like to see, let me know. If you have questions about comics you’ve always wanted to ask but were embarrassed, ask away (anonymity provided upon request). Post in the comments below every article, join The Comics Observer Facebook page, follow @ComicsObserver on Twitter, email comicsobserver@gmail.com.

To start, the site will update Wednesdays (new comics day!) and Fridays to keep the focus on quality over quantity.

We’re heading back east for a much needed and long-overdue visit with family and friends. While our kitty and house-sitter hold down the fort, I’ve got a series of blogs on graphic novels I’ve been enjoying this year lined up to post while I’m away. I’m not super keen on doing reviews, but I want people to read comics and a good way to encourage people to do that is to recommend some awesome comics. If one person buys one graphic novel from these posts, I’ll be thrilled. If you do, or if you’ve already read what I’m blogging about, I’d love to hear what you thought of it. (Unfortunately the Friday Kitteh posts will be on hiatus for the next two Fridays.)

I’ll still be obsessively checking email and Facebook and the like, so feel free to drop me a line.

We talked about the big publishing initiative that DC Comics will be starting at the end of August and into September, where their entire superhero publishing line will be relaunching with 52 new comics starting at issue #1. Perhaps even bigger than that is the news that DC will be releasing their comics simultaneously in print and digital. Lots of opinions. Let me know what you think. Are you interested in buying one of the new 52? Will you be buying DC’s digital comics?

I’ve been invited to be a panelist on today’s live web broadcast of ComiCenter, a comics industry discussion show. The episode goes live tonight at 7:15 PM Pacific at GeekWeek Live. Follow along online and you can submit questions through GeekWeek’s chat.

We’ll likely be discussing the massive news of DC Comics relaunching their entire superhero publishing line in September and their new digital comics strategy, as more details have been released over the last couple weeks. But really, who knows? I could spend the entire hour attempting puppetry of the penis. It’s live internet TV! Anything can happen!

The weekly show is recorded live at Brave New World Comics in Newhall, California. So if you’re in the neighborhood, stop in, be a part of our studio audience, and maybe buy some comics and/or graphic novels!

If you miss the live webcast, the episode will get posted on YouTube by Moopsy Productions about 6 days later. I’ll be sure to embed the video here once it posts.

The show is hosted by Atom! Freeman, a sales and marketing consultant in the world of comics and co-owner of Brave New World, and Bryan Daggett, who also hosts the Geek Week podcast. The first episode had an excellent conversation about digital comics with writer and digital advocate Mark Waid (Kingdom Come) and comics journalist Andy Khouri of Comics Alliance. They’ve also had horror writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), writer Sam Humphries (CBGB: The Comic Book, Fraggle Rock), The Panelists‘ academic Charles Hatfield (Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature) and many more impressive people have served as guests.

Tragically they’ve already jumped the shark and asked me to be on their show. Tune in tonight!